Broken treasure
by Youngsoul
Summary: After an encounter with pirates at the sea Libertá gets abducted and is soon forced to use his powers for evil means. Can Felicitá, Nova and the other members of the Arcana Family get Libertá back? Based on the anime. Rated T
1. Chapter 1

**I watched La storia della Arcana Famiglia and I just really liked it. It had its flaws but I really liked the little twists and the drama. I liked the idea of the Arcana powers and the characters were pretty great and so I wrote this.  
I hope you will enjoy it.**

~.~

The rain kept pouring down endlessly as the ship kept rocking wildly against the waves. Libertá ran across the wet and slippery deck as he secured all the cargo down so that it wouldn't fall in the ocean. He was completely soaked, tired and hungry but he knew that he couldn't just go under the deck while everyone else was fighting against the storm.

"Libertá!" A familiar, strong voice shouted. The blonde turned around to see the ship's captain, Dante. The two had a special relationship since Dante had taken care of Libertá since he was a child and was like a father to him.

A strong hand rested on the blonde's shoulder as Dante gave a smile.

"You should go inside. We'll handle the rest." Libertá gave a tired smile.

"No, I'll stay here with you guys a long as it takes. I wouldn't be able to rest anyways if I knew that you might need my help." Dante grinned.

"Is that so? Well alright then. Just make sure that you aren't too harsh on your body." Libertá nodded and headed further across the ship.

An hour or so passed and the crew could finally rest a bit. They still needed some men on the deck but some were able to go inside to rest.

But of course Libertá was too stubborn to do so.

If he had known that his tiredness would be the cause of some very unfortunate happenings he probably would have gone inside to rest. But since he hadn't been given the power to see the future he couldn't have known what was waiting ahead of them.

After all, no one saw it coming. But it happened anyway.

Pirates used the weather for their cover in order to get close to their ship and soon the deck was filled with unfamiliar men, who were clearly very good at fighting. But so were the Arcana Family members on board.

The entire crew had been called to the deck to fight the pirates and it was clear that they were winning. But no one had expected the outcome of the battle.

The pirates weren't after their cargo but something much, much more valuable to them.

"Libertá!" Someone shouted. Dante only saw a flash of the blond hair as the boy was taken to the other ship in his unconscious state.

The pirates withdrew instantly after that and the Arcana Family members had no time to follow them into their ship.

"Follow the ship, we must get Libertá back no matter what!" Dante shouted and the entire crew agreed. After all, Libertà was an important part of their family.

But they couldn't follow the ship for long. The raging sea was pulling them further and further away from the pirate ship and before they knew it was morning and the other ship had disappeared.

Dante stood at the front of the ship and continued to gaze forward.

"Libertá..."

~.~  
**This story shouldn't take too long to update. Probably.**


	2. Chapter 2

A loud knock interrupted the three maids' talking as they were brushing the young girl's hair.

"Come in." Felicitá said before a familiar figure walked in. "Nova! What is it?" The red-haired girl was surprised to see the boy in his room so early in the morning and the worried look on his face was more than unfamiliar on him. He seemed reluctant to raise his gaze to meet Felicitá's and he turned it away as soon as he had met it.

"I...have some bad news to deliver." Felicitá rose from her chair.

"Has something happened to Papá?" Her voice was alarmed.

Nova shook his head.

"No... it's Libertá." Felicitá was shocked.

"Eh...? What has happened?" Her voice wavered. Nova stared at the floor.

"We just heard from Dante this morning. He... was abducted by pirates yesterday and hasn't been seen since then."

"What? How could that happen?" Felicitá was trembling and close to tears.

"It seems that the pirates weren't after the cargo, they were after him. There was a storm that night and Libertá was too weak to fight against the pirates."

Felicitá collapsed to the chair behind her and it was clear she was too shocked to even cry.

"Felicitá, we need to go and find him. He needs our help." Nova sounded determined and it affected the young lady. She raised her head to meet his gaze with Nova's.

After just a moment of hesitation she was able to reply.

"Yeah." She said and nodded determinedly.

_**At the pirate ship**_

Libertá woke up only to be greeted by a massive headache. He massaged the back of his head and opened his eyes to see a dark room only lid by one oil lamp. He felt the room rock, so he figured he was inside a ship. But it wasn't Dante's ship. So where...? Then he remembered the pirate attack.  
"No way... I was taken by them?" Libertá asked the silent room. For a second he felt a bang of betrayal and sadness in his chest but he shook it away as he knew that Dante would never give up on him so easily. Something unexpected had happened and that's why the pirates had gotten away.

Libertá got up and decided to try and escape the ship. Once he could stand without seeing the room spinning he noticed an important weight missing from his waist. His sword had been taken! Or had it fallen during the fight?

Libertá figured his escaping wasn't going to be easy and without his sword nearly impossible. He was in no condition to use his powers so the only thing he could use were his hands and feet.

But before he could even think about his escape plan a voice interrupted his thoughts.

"I see you have woken up." Libertá spun around to see a man wearing a long coat and a hat which he had often seen pirate captains wear.

Libertá took a fighting position and earned an unexpected laugh from the pirate.

"You truly are 'The Fool'. You won't stand a chance against me, yet you wish to fight me." Libertá looked at the man angrily.

"How do you know about my contract with the Tarocco?" The man was silent for a while before grinning in a scary manner.

"Oh, I know about your contract, card number #0, The Fool. Your name is Libertá and your power is Pensiero Realizzare, one of the strongest powers of the Arcana family. Anything you say can be granted to you." The man said and Libertá took a step backwards. The man knew too much about him to feel comfortable. The pirate's eyes got a strange glint in them suddenly and Libertá felt like something dangerous was approaching him.

"And soon I will have that power to my use!" The man shouted and Libertá felt the room spin again but much stronger than when he had woken up. He was too late to realize what was happening to him as he slipped into the dark abyss.

_**At the harbor**_

Felicitá and Nova ran down towards the harbor with only one thing in their mind: To find Dante before he would sail off to find Libertá.

Fortunately they were on time. Panting, they explained that they wished to accompany Dante on finding Libertá.

Dante didn't say anything at first but then he nodded.

"I understand. But if things get dangerous you have to promise that you will get away from the pirates." Nova and Felicitá nodded though in their mind they thought that if it meant that they could save Libertá they were ready to face any kind of danger.


	3. Chapter 3

**I will update this to the finish today. After that I will start working on the projects everyone is waiting for.. **

Two weeks passed.

Then one more.

Countless of tears had been shed for Libertá. Yet there was no news of him.

Dante was at the sea all the time, desperately trying to find out something about the blonde kid. But there was nothing.

Not until now at least.

Dante returned to the mansion again after his long week of sailing a little early. It meant that he had either found something about Libertá or something else had come up. He wouldn't return without a good reason before the boy had been returned to them.

Nova had gone to get Felicitá as soon as he saw Dante approaching the mansion.

Soon everyone who had also made a contract with Tarocco in the family sat at a table hopeful to hear some good news.

Dante was silent for a long while but it was clear that he had something to say to everyone.

"Dante, did you find out anything about Libertá?" Sumire, the family's mother figure asked. Dante nodded but his frown stayed in place.

"I did, but there are some bad news concerning him." The atmosphere turned very heavy and serious after that.

"Tell us Dante." Mondo, the head of the family said.

Dante looked up at everyone before speaking.

"The pirates took Libertá three weeks ago. Since that, four harbors and one big city have been destroyed."

"By what?" Nova asked.

"The people have all said that they were under a pirate attack but what really got us interested was that they also claimed to have seen a young boy with blonde hair destroying their homes just by using his words." Everyone at the room gasped.

"No...No! There is no way Libertá would use his powers to destroy innocent peoples' homes!" Felicitá shouted. Nova nodded.

"I agree. He is an idiot but he wouldn't do such a thing. There must be something else to this story." Dante nodded.

"That's what we thought too so we did a little searching. We found out that the pirate captain who had been responsible for the attack on our ship wasn't really what he seemed. He has a power over mind, hypnosis. That's how he has been so successful as a pirate."

"That's how he is controlling Libertá!" Felicitá said.

Dante could only nod before Debito spoke.

"But how? I thought that only those who have the Arcana powers could do such things."

Dante shook his head.

"I don't really know details about how he has gotten his powers but there is something I do know. He is planning to attack Regalo soon using Libertá as a shield and weapon."

"Are you sure of this?" Nova asked. Dante nodded.  
"Yes, the attacked city and harbors have seem to have been 'training' for Libertá for this attack."

"But why here? They surely know that we are here to stop them." Luca asked.

There was a silence and looks were exchanged.

"Nothing is certain at this moment. However it might just be the reason they are attacking here."

At this, a few sharp intakes of breaths could be heard.

"You mean they are targeting us? Maybe to take control of our powers like Libertá's?"

"I would find it hard to believe that anyone could maintain such power over many people at the same time. Also, some of us are capable off dismissing such powers. I found that theory highly unlikely." Jolly spoke unexpectedly and took a draw of his cigarette before letting out a cloud of smoke.

"What are you thinking then Jolly?" Mondo asked as the younger shrugged his shoulders. "I wonder...Maybe just to scare us or..." He said and glanced dangerously under his dark glasses.

"Or...?" Felicitá asked uncertainly.

"Maybe he is confident enough of the strength Libertá possesses and he intends to wipe us out."

The people at the table seemed to all lose some color from their faces as such was suggested.

"Indeed," Mondo started, "He might have used his strange power in order to bring out the true potential behind Libertá's power. If that's true..." He trailed away and seemed to sink deep into his thoughts.

"Is there something else?" Nova asked. The man, who also held the title of 'Papá' seemed to return from his deep thinking and he tried to give an encouraging smile while shaking his head.  
"No, it's nothing." Mondo said before thinking: _'It's best the kids don't worry about it now..' _

"So how do we get him back?" Felicitá asked then, getting them back on track. It was a relief to all of them that the young girl did not seem to be too affected about the facts she had just heard and was able to focus on the most important thing.

"The hypnosis must be canceled in order for Libertá's mind to be freed." Jolly said. He seemed to be unnaturally interested of the subject, if only because it was threatening his current lifestyle.

"Canceled? What if we end up cutting him down?" Nova asked. The way he said 'cutting him down' made his intentions quite clear.

"If you fail to make that pirate cancel the hypnosis and just happen to kill him there is a good chance that you will never get the Libertá you know back."

"It's not going to be easy..." Nova stated while giving a sigh.

"But it's possible." Felicitá said, hope filling her voice.

The head of the family rose from his seat with newly gained confidence.

"Alright, we need everyone to guard Regalo from this attack. Arcana Familiga won't be defeated by some pirates!"

Everyone rose from their seats, feeling the strong words of Papá going through their bodies, and a roar of 'Yeah!' was shouted out by some before tasks were handed over to each of them.

–

Mondo was walking along the hallway with Sumire in silence.

They both were quite shocked of the turn of events and were both trying to process everything. Or at least Sumire was.  
Mondo was already thinking ahead, wondering what his role would be in this battle and about the things that needed to be done before the attack came. Then his thoughts trailed to the young boy who was in the middle of all of this.

_'The childish and ever-so-happy Libertá...' _He thought and an image of the important family member flashed inside of his mind.

The thought of losing the boy made his heart heavy and he stopped for a while to look out of the window, his thoughts completely occupied by the young soul.

"Dear?" Sumire asked in confusion before she walked next to her husband to watch the same view as he did.

Mondo stayed in his thoughts and knew that Sumire understood him perfectly.

_'That boy has gone through enough already... And now this. Maybe I should have done something different. After all, I was the one who knew the true extent of his powers.' _He looked down before he gathered his spirits. _'No, there was nothing more I could have done. Libertá's powers became known by the darkness and its people when he was only a small child. It was a surprise that he was able to stay save for such a long time. All thanks to our family I guess.' _He thought then and cracked a small smile. Sumire had said nothing but she knew how worried her husband was. But now that Mondo seemed to relax, so did she. Everything would surely end up okay. That's how things were in their family. Bad things were bound to happen but they would get through it as a family. This time would surely be no different.

Mondo then turned around and put his arm to Sumire's waist, guiding her forward.

"Don't worry." Mondo started, "We will get that little one back." Sumire wasn't surprised by his voice but the tone of his voice. It was as if he was trying to assure himself rather than her. This made her wonder for a while.

"Mondo, is there something you aren't telling?" Her suspicion was confirmed when his face darkened.

He stayed silent for some time before he finally opened his mouth.

"It's just.. Well, you know it too, how Arcana powers work.." She stayed silent, waiting for his explanation.

"By using them the user exhausts themselves. And if what I'm thinking is true, Libertá has been using his power all this time and to its full extent." Sumire quickly caught on and she would have stopped walking in shock if Mondo hadn't been guiding her forward. Her hand rose to her face and her eyes widened in terror. Mondo stayed silent, his expression dark.

"That boy might only be alive because of the hypnosis... It might just give an illusion to his mind that his body is alright but there is no way..." He trailed off and gritted his teeth in frustration.

Sumire was so shocked that no words escaped her and she shook in terror.  
It wasn't just a kidnapping. It was torture.

"Of course I can try sealing his power but it's impossible to tell in what shape his body is by then. We can only hope." The card he had, the world, already caused his body a lot of strain itself and he doubted he would be able to actually pull of the sealing of Libertá's power but he needed to say something in order to reassure his wife.

The two could only hope for the best but a dark shadow loomed over their minds.


	4. Chapter 4

It had only been two days before the battle began. The pirates hadn't expected the Arcana Family to be ready for the attack, but they were. All the citizens had been evacuated from the area so that no one innocent needed to get hurt and now there was only a tightly protected harbor to attack.

Some of the family teams had set up traps while most had taken battle positions and were always ready for the upcoming attack. There were always people guarding the city as there was at the time the pirates were sighted. A quick call was made to call the rest of the group and soon the town was filled with men with black suits who had all great battling skills. No pirate could ever take them down, they were all sure of it. But still it was quite unnerving to see five big ships full of pirates sail to their harbor and hear them roar their battle cry before the mostly dirty-looking crew jumped, or climbed, down the ships and ran towards them.

The battle was on.

Things were quite okay for some time, swords clashed and pirates fell, before something happened that they had been fearing.

There was a huge explosion at the harbor and every single one of them knew by then what that meant. It was no gun or cannon that made such an explosion. It was Libertá.

Felicitá and Nova had refused any other task than being the first ones to come in contact with their friend and so they ran with fear in their hearts towards the explosion.

There they saw a sight they never would have wanted to see.

In the middle of the fire stood their friend, who was like a brother to them, his eyes empty. He looked exhausted and malnourished and his clothes, dirty and tattered, hung on his frame.

"Libertá!" Felicitá and Nova shouted at the same time but it didn't seem to affect Libertá in any way.

The two friends ran as close as they could but the fire still separated them from the blonde.

"Libertá, please answer us!" Felicitá shouted.

Libertá lifted his gaze to look straight at them before saying:

"Explode." Nova grabbed Felicitá and jumped away from Libertá. An explosion could be heard behind them and their eyes were ringing for a little while before returning to normal. They turned around to see a hole on the ground, caused by the explosion. Nova was on his feet soon after and angrier than ever before.

"Wake up you idiot! Can't you see that you almost hurt Felicitá?! Is this what you want!?" Libertá stayed unresponsive before sifting his gaze to his right, towards the city. He mouthed something again and when a flame blocked him from Nova's view for a second, he was gone.

"Come on Felicitá, let's follow him!" Nova shouted to the red-haired girl behind him.

"Yeah!"

– The city -

Dante and Pace were facing the pirate captain, apparently called Johnny, and were winning.

"Now, undo your hypnosis on Libertá!" Dante shouted. The pirate, however, grinned evilly.

"That I won't do."

"Undo it or pay with your life." A voice said behind the captain. A gun was being pointed at his head.

"Oh, you must be Debito. You have made a contract with card #9, The Hermit. Your power is Tra Coppo Scomparire, disappearing, right? I have no interest in your power as I already have everything I need..." The pirate captain Johnny said and laughed.

"Shut up or I'll blow your head into bits!"

"You wouldn't want to do that now would you? Not if you want to save that kid." Debito growled but didn't move.

"Now.. I want you to stop your attacks and let us go." The captain said with a smirk.

"No way. That's not going to happen." Dante said.

"Are you sure?" The captain asked before his eyes turned strange.  
"Don't look into his eyes!" Dante shouted.

"Come, you fool." Johnny said.

And just like that, he appeared.

"Libertá!" Pace and Dante shouted at the kid who looked like he was in terrible shape.  
And just like that a dagger was soon pressed against the blonde's throat.

"Now, like I said before. Let us go or this kid will die." Dante gritted his teeth.

It was so difficult to see someone so dear look so frail.

"And I hope you understand that I'm being very serious." The captain said and pressed the dagger on Libertá's throat deep enough to let a trickle of blood escape. The white shirt's collar soon had a red stain. But even though he was being harmed, Libertá stayed unresponsive and his eyes remained empty.

"Release Libertá at once!" A shout came behind the pirate and he had just enough time to avoid Nova's sword from cutting him but it forced him to separate from Libertá.

"Fool, kill these people!" Johnny shouted before running off.  
"Wait!" Debito shouted and was about to run after him before he was stopped by Libertá.

"Dante, Pace, follow that bastard! I'll keep Libertá busy!" Debito shouted and the older men ran off after that, shouting a reminder to the gray-haired man not to hurt Libertá. But he knew that already. And who the hell would hurt a kid who looked like he would collapse any moment? Apparently that sadist Johnny.

And so Debito, Nova and Felicitá faced Libertá, not sure how they could help the boy.

"Yo, you seem to have gotten yourself caught up in a mess Libertá." Debito said while pointing his gun towards him. "Don't expect me to go easy on ya'."

Surprisingly Nova stepped forward and extended his arm before Debito, stopping the older.

"No wait. I'll use my Arcana ability to stop him." Debito looked at the younger uncertainly.

"Are you sure? It's not going to be easy you know."

"I know. But we need to get that pirate to undo the hypnosis. Otherwise Libertá will be gone."

Nova felt a tug on his sleeve. He turned his head to see Felicitá biting her lip.

"I.." She began before looking away, as if ashamed. "I'm not strong enough to help Libertá this time so please... safe him. I don't want to lose anyone from our family." Nova was taken back by the sudden confession but soon regained his cool and gave a small smile.

"Don't worry, 'I'll definitely get him back." After having said that Nova turned his head only to find that Libertá was gone. He gritted his teeth and felt adrenaline pump through his veins as he searched for the boy with his gaze. He then realized where he would attack from and took Felicitá's hand before jumping away from the spot they were on. Debito did the same, succeeding at avoiding a heavy attack from the blonde.  
Libertá had used his ability to make his body more heavy so when he collided with the earth it cracked and sank, creating a hole and a cloud of dust in the air.

Nova stood up from the ground and could only stare in astonishment at the boy who had once had the most bright smile he had ever seen. Now he stood up and Nova could clearly see his figure swaying dangerously.  
Nova waited to see if the blonde would attack them and tried to think of a plan. Being unable to concentrate enough to make a plan he shouted at Debito. "Debito! Cover for me, I'm going to use my powers!"

"Roger that!" Debito shouted as Nova closed his eyes.

Libertá was just about to say something but Debito used his power to disappear behind him and close his mouth before that.

"La Tenebre..." Nova began and opened his eyes. "Addormentate!" A light started shining around him and the air moved, showing the mark in his neck.

"Sleep, Libertá!" He shouted and waited for the blonde to collapse.

But it didn't happen.

"What?!" Debito had time to ask before the boy before him managed to slip away from him.

As Libertá stood before them as emotionless as ever they could only stare.

"My power had no effect... It didn't even reach him! As if I had never even used my powers!" Even Nova raised his voice at this point.

"Shit, how deep is that hypnosis?!" Debito asked.

They didn't have time to wonder for any longer as the boy spoke.

"I have to go now..." He muttered before he raised his right palm towards them.

He stared at them blankly.

"Pensiero Realizzato..." They had time to gasp before a light, similar to what had just been seen around Nova but just much stronger, surrounded the boy and the angry red mark was showed on his forehead as it turned to shine gold.

"Disap-" Libertá had only time to say before his voice stopped short.

The three saw something disturbing.

The head of the family, Mondo, had appeared behind Libertá from an alley and stopped Libertá by a desperate act.

He had grabbed the boy by his throat, now strangling him. The boy barely reacted and the only thing that indicated him being strangled was the desperate wheezing noise that escaped him.  
"PAPÀ!" Felicitá shouted in horror. The man didn't seem to like this any more than the kids before him but he had no choice.

Even Nova, who had always trusted Mondo in everything he did, felt himself freeze in horror. Was the man who he had trusted his life with going to kill Libertá? There was no way...was there?

Fortunately the light around Libertá soon disappeared as his power stopped. It was horrible for the three young ones to see Libertá's body twitch in need of oxygen before his eyes closed and he went limp.

Mondo released his grip as soon as that happened and he caught the boy in his arms before he lowered him down.

The three ran to the two, hoping more than ever that Libertá was alive.

Mondo looked at the boy in his arms with sadness.

"Papá, is Libertá-!" Felicitá shouted fearfully. Nova felt himself going through an inner battle about what had just happened and was unable to say anything as Debito holstered his guns and looked at the sight uncharacteristically sadly.

"It's alright. He's breathing. I didn't hold on that tightly. It was just to stop him from what he was doing. I'm sorry you had to see that." Nova instantly felt regret about doubting the man before him for even a second. Of course he wasn't going to hurt Libertá. He just did what he had to.

"You must understand that Libertá was just going to kill you all-"

"-It's okay Papá. We understand." Felicitá said as she got down to see Libertá closer.

A silence was shared between them as they looked at the boy.

He was in terrible state. If he looked like this on the outside... how bad was the damage inside and in his mind? They didn't even want to go there.

"So I'm guessing that wasn't enough to get rid of the hypnosis." Debito broke the silence with an unnerving fact.

As soon as Libertá woke up he would be at it again and they had no idea of knowing when that was going to happen.

"No. When I heard from Pace and Dante last the pirate captain had been able to rendezvous with his crew and they had lost the sight of him. He was heading towards the harbor so we believe that he might be planning on retreating." Mondo said as calmly as he could.

The three gasped.

"But if that's true he will just be able to call Libertá to him and we will be unable to do anything!" Felicitá said, terror shaking her voice.

Mondo nodded.

"I have ordered everyone available to head to the harbor to stop the pirates from leaving. They won't escape." The three looked at Mondo in seriousness.

"We have to head there too." Nova stated their thoughts.

"What about Libertá?" Felicitá asked.

"We can't just tie him up and hope that will do it. We will bring him with us and try to keep him from doing anything stupid. Nova," Mondo said and the said boy looked at him in question. "I'm guessing you already tried to use your Arcana powers?" Nova nodded at this.

"It didn't have any affect."

Mondo nodded in thought.

"I thought that might be the case. Our powers have no effect on Libertá right now."


	5. Chapter 5

The fight was still going on when the party reached the harbor.

Debito had, a bit reluctantly, taken the role of carrying Libertá and trying to keep him unconscious fully knowing what kind of measures it needed. It disgusted him to no end and he just hoped he could bring himself to do what was necessary if it came down to it.

It took them a while to see how the situation was.  
It was clear that an order to retreat had been given as the pirates were trying to get to the ships desperately but the Arcana Family was holding them back quite well. However the lack of manpower became apparent as the ships had already starting to fill and some were getting the sails down.

"We have to stop those ships from leaving!" Nova shouted and started to run towards the ships, using a way he wouldn't face any opponents on the way. Felicitá ran after him as Mondo stayed behind with Debito.

"We will try to locate Johnny." He stated, gaining an approving nod from Debito, before they ran.

–

"Pace! Don't lose the sight of him!" Dante shouted behind the gluttonous young man as the tried to squeeze their way through the crowd of people.

"I'm-trying!" Pace said between his grunts and pants before he snapped.

"GAAH, forget this! COMING THROUGH!" He shouted as a warning before he put his arms in a triangle shape before him as he used his Arcana powers to make himself stronger and ran.

People, both pirates and the family members got thrown away as Pace used his inhuman strength to his advantage. Dante could only laugh slightly as the way before them was cleaned in a flash.

"He's up there!" Pace shouted and pointed at the biggest, and the closest, ship before them. And truly, there the pirate captain Johnny was, holding his injured head and glaring at the sight before him. He wasn't pleased with the outcome.

They immediately ran towards the ship before they heard a shout.

"OI! PACE! DANTE!" They stopped and saw Debito and Mondo behind the crowd to their left. Pace was happy about seeing the two and he raised his hand high and waved at them.

The two waited until Mondo and Debito had made their way through the crowd and stood before them.

They went silent as they saw Libertá.

"Libertá!" Dante shouted and went to the boy to see what state he was in. Before Debito could protest the boy was taken down from his back, into the arms of the much bigger man.

"What happened?" He asked the two. Mondo reluctantly told him what had needed to be done.

"Is that so...I'm sorry but can you leave Libertá to me? I will keep him away from harm. And obviously...from causing any." He said the last part with clear pain in his voice.

Mondo nodded.

"Do what you can. I won't ask for more." He said before he turned to Pace, who had his eyes fixed on the ship before them. Mondo turned his gaze to the same direction.

"There he is, that bastard." Debito took a step forward and stated.

"Take care of Libertá." Pace said to Dante before the three took off, leaving Dante with the blonde boy.

"I'll keep you safe. Just like I should have in the first place." Dante told the unconscious boy in his arms, taking note of his light weight, before he decided that he needed to get Libertá to a safer place.

–

"Princess!" A familiar voice greeted the two when they reached one of the pirate ships. Nova was fighting off a couple of pirates and was unable to greet the dark-haired man as he reached the two.

"Luca!" Felicitá greeted the man before he could start his worrying blabber.

"Princess, this place is dangerous! You should get away from here quickly-!"

"-Luca! We are here to stop this ship from leaving, please help us!" The man was about to reply but Nova cut in that moment.

"Hey! Stop your blabbering and get moving! We don't have time for this!" As he had finished Felicitá was behind him and they took off in a flash with the intentions of sabotaging the ship. Luca soon recovered from his state and ran after the two.

"O-okay, so what are we going to do? Drop the oars?" Luca babbled as they ran.

"Idiot, this isn't a rowboat!" Nova shouted at the man. "If we can we should try to fire some cannons to destroy the other ships and then think of a way to get rid of this one."

Felicitá started to look around to see if there were cannons around. Fortunately the pirates had been using, or at least planned on using, cannons so there were several on the deck. She pointed at the one that was pointing at their own ship a little further away from the harbor.

"Nova, over there!" The party instantly ran to the cannon.

Nova fought off the pirates ass Felicitá and Luca figured how to shoot the cannon and as the big pang happened, the two had, surprisingly, fun. Unfortunately for their joy, they didn't need any more tries as the ship they hit began to fill with water and sink.

"Good job!" Nova was grateful to notice then that the ship began to fill with their own men and the pirates were taken down one by one.

–

Johnny had retreated all the way to the stern of the ship, hoping for his men to stop the intruders from reaching him but it was for nothing.

The three men easily made their way to the sick-minded pirate.

They all glared at the man, even the kindhearted Pace. He had known from the start that he hated the man but now, after seeing up close what state Libertá had been he really wished to _hurt_ the man.

"It's the end Johnny. Libertá can't hear your orders now." Mondo said as calmly as he could, expecting the man to finally give up but no such luck.

He was silent for a little while before he laughed again.

"You really think so?!" He almost shouted as he turned to the direction Libertá was in. Pace ran to the edge of the ship to see where Dante was.

"DANTE!" He shouted before he even saw the man. However when he noticed the man he was shocked to find that the pirates had surrounded him and he was desperately trying to fight them while holding the unconscious boy. It was no good.

"Wake up sleepyhead~!" The pirate captain said with a sweet voice coated in utter madness and joy.

"NO! LIBERTÀ!" Pace shouted as loud as he could but it didn't help. A light flashed in the crowd and at the same second the young one appeared next to the pirate captain, his eyes open and empty again.

"You bastard!" Debito shouted at the madman as he grabbed Libertá's face and seemed to inspect his eyes.

"Swear your loyalty for me." It was clear that the man was only toying with their emotions, but the two young men couldn't stay quiet anymore and they charged the man.

"STOP IT!" They shouted but it was no use.

"I swear to serve you forever, J-" The boy unexpectedly stopped that moment, as did Pace and Debito.

"Hm? What is it boy? I told you to speak!" He said and held Libertá's face harder.

They all saw how Libertá's jaw wavered. Was his body reaching its limit?

"Boy!" Johnny shouted in anger.

Or could it be...Was Libertá...fighting against the hypnosis? At the state he was in?

"Pace!" Mondo shouted at the two frozen youths and they seemed to snap out of their strange trance. Pace ran to the man who now didn't seem to have control over Libertá and locked his arms behind his back with his enormous strength. There was no way he would be able to escape. He was completely fixated to the blonde before him, probably shocked that his hypnosis didn't work for some reason.

Debito ran before Libertá and took a hold of his shoulders. The blonde didn't move, but his jaw still quivered.  
"Libertá, oi! It's me! Come on, get a grip!"

"Fool, I'm ordering you!" The pirate captain then shouted. Mondo had walked up to him and gave the man a punch. "You stay quiet!"

"LIBERTÀ!" A shout came from the other ship beside them. It was Felicitá. Next to here were the silent and shocked Nova and Luca.

There was a short silence. Then, a single word froze them all. It was only a whisper but it was there.

"P..Papà.." Mondo turned around in shock to look at the child. The boy was still lifeless but his mouth no longer quivered. The words had definitely been there.

They were all too shocked to stop the tragedy from happening.

"FOOL! I ORDER YOU!" It took a moment too long for Pace to stop the man.

"DISAPPEAAAAARGH!" The shout ended in a pained shout as Pace broke the man's arms. But the damage had already been done.

Debito had time to clench his teeth and try to hold the boy down harder but then he was already gone.

"Libertá" Mondo breathed as he saw the boy at the railing of the ship. He ran but it was too late. Libertá's hand shook as it reached his head and he uttered the word:

"Disappear..." As he leaned backwards and his soft voice faded in the air.

There was a splash. Then a scream.

"LIBERTÁ!"


	6. Chapter 6

As the boy hit the water head-on, his body sank with great speed.

His body was completely limp and pale. Anyone who would have seen him now would have thought him to be dead but the reality was another.

The boy was alive, but barely. But still he held on to his consciousness.

He could feel the water passing through his fingers and how the pressure increased the deeper he sank. He didn't know when his eyes had closed but he found himself opening them.

It was quite dark at first. But then he saw the surface. It glimmered nicely. How calming.

_'Aah..' _He thought utterly exhausted,_ 'It's finally over..'_

The blonde let himself sink. He couldn't move his body anyway. The terrible pain had numbed away and the heat and the cold had both faded away. Now it was just...so calm and nice.

The heaviness in his head was gone, just like the voice was.

_'I guess I did it...I made the pain disappear...'_

The silence around him was so soothing after all the noise. It was almost as if he couldn't hear anything anymore. Only his thoughts.

_'I really did many bad things, huh...? Maybe it's okay like this...just to sink...'_

He saw his hair sway before his eyes and even further away were those pale hands of his. He saw the familiar beads on his bracelet that had almost come loose. He thought about the time he had gotten it and how he had been with his mentor and father-figure Dante. He struggled a bit but managed to get the bracelet free.  
The wooden beads guided the bracelet upwards the surface. He hoped that the people above would find it. He wasn't sure how they all felt about him since he had done such horrible things but he hoped that someone would miss him.

_'I really hope you guys know...' _He feels a strange pressure in his chest and he wants it to be gone so he relaxes and sees bubbles escaping his mouth. The liquid fills his mouth and forces itself down his throat, into his lungs. It hurts a bit, but soon the feeling passes.

_'I never wanted to do any of those bad things. The only thing I wanted was...' _He closes his eyes tiredly and accepts the darkness that is greeting him.

_'Libertá...Freedom...'_

–

Mondo could only register the shouts and the footsteps around him, too shocked to do anything but stare at the dark water where the boy had fallen. He had called his name. He had said 'Papá, and wished for him to save him and now he had failed. Libertá was.. He was..

"Snap out of it, Papá!" Pace's voice called him back to the reality around him.

The first thing he saw was that Nova and Luca were gone from the other ship and Felicitá was left crying hysterically at the ship. He glanced down and saw marks that the two had jumped in the water too.

How had he not seen that?

Then he turned around as he heard a sickening crunch.

"..it, stop it! Debito! Stop it!" The voice came into his ears slowly as he saw Pace, crying, and trying to hold Debito's hands. Huh? When had he moved over there?

Then Mondo really saw what was happening.

Debito had tackled the mad pirate captain on the ground and he swung his fists down at him with full strength and speed. His fists were covered in blood of his enemy's and, undoubtedly, his own.

Pace's hands seemed to be too weak to hold Debito's raging fists which was impossible. It was just because Pace was so scared and confused right then. He finally got a good hold of Debito's wrists as the other panted angrily and glared at the man below him with his one good eye. The look was not meant for many. Only those who he truly wanted to kill.

"Debito..!" Pace cried. "It's enough..." He said as a sob escaped him. "He's already..."

Debito's hands shook but Pace let him go. Pace collapsed onto his hands and knees immediately.

Debito got up in a flash and went to the other railing before slamming his hands and head down loudly. He panted in anger before he raised his head while roaring in such anger that the entire battlefield in the harbor went silent.

The roar affected Mondo immensely. He walked over the railing and felt like he finally had a hold of himself.

He looked at the people below who were staring at the ship in confusion.

Mondo took a deep breath before shouting:  
"INVADERS! YOUR LEADER WAS DEFEATED! SURRENDER NOW AND YOUR LIVES WILL BE SPARED!"

Mondo was relieved that the result of his words was such that most of the pirates dropped their weapons. Some tried to flee, but were successfully captured or taken down, as were the ones who still had a fighting spirit.

"It's over..." Mondo sighed.

"Yeah, but at what cost?" Debito said and looked down.

Mondo followed his gaze and to his great shock he saw three figures at the edge of one small dock.

He didn't need to guess what was going on.  
Luca was breathing air into Libertá's lungs before he turned to pump his chest. Nova was at the other side, obviously shouting at the blonde.

A cry could be heard from the other ship. Mondo looked over to see Felicitá looking at the three on the dock and still crying uncontrollably.

Dante could now be seen running over to the three.

Luca took a deep breath and was obviously exhausted. Nova seemed to shout at him, making the man try harder to revive the poor boy.

It was painful to watch Dante rush to them and push Luca away from Libertá before he continued the job the other just had.

Mondo couldn't watch anymore. Libertá had used his own power to kill himself in a horrible way. Inside, he was gone. There was no way the boy could survive. The hypnosis hadn't been broken. They couldn't save him, not even by giving him his own mind back.

There was a slim chance that Libertá would have survived even if the hypnosis would have been broken. His body was a wreck. It was amazing that he had been standing even if he had been under the hypnosis. And then...

"_P..Papá.."_ Libertá's voice echoed inside his head.

He had understood what had been going on around him. Had he been there to see all the horrors he had been forced to do also? If that was so...were things better this way?

He then looked around himself. Debito. Pace. Felicitá. Dante. Luca. Nova. And how would Sumire react? She would slowly hear the entire truth about the case too.

No, things weren't better this way.

Arcana Family wasn't better without Libertá. It was a lot darker place without him.

A scream woke him from his thoughts.

"Libertá!" Felicitá shouted until her voice cracked and broke. She looked down but there was something different about that cry.

Could it be?

Mondo let his gaze slowly fall down again to first see Luca crying into his hand and the way his shoulder almost looked...relaxed?

Then he saw a miracle.

Dante was crying, but he held the boy they held so dear up against his chest, not in a manner that was indicating that Libertá wasn't breathing but in such way that the boy could breathe easier.

Nova was hunched, almost as if in defeat but then he slowly got up with a small sway before he lifted his head and shouted, louder than anyone had ever heard:

"LIBERTÀ IS...!" A pause. Was that a sob he heard? "ALIVE!"

There was only a pause that lasted a split second before the family members below roared in joy.

Pace and Debito both stared ahead, in complete shock.

Alive?

Alive after...all that?

"He... was able to resist... at the last moment...!" Debito said only so that the three could hear.

Was it enough to say it was a miracle?

He didn't know what kind of powers had kept Libertá alive but watching Dante, Luca and Nova rushing back to the mansion he knew that there was still a rough way ahead for Libertá if he was to survive this ordeal.


	7. Chapter 7

"Dante! Be careful! Don't jostle him around too much!" Nova shouted as the three ran up a hill towards the mansion.

The man held the unconscious boy to his chest and was clearly trying his best to keep the young one safe.

"I know! We just have to hurry or he isn't going to-!"

"-He will survive! After all this, he won't die and leave us to mourn!" Luca interrupted the thought.

After that the three only ran in silence and the only thing that went through their mind was that they needed to hurry.

–

"Put him on the bed, quickly!" Sumire ordered when she saw the party climb to the second floor with the unconscious boy. She had just been in Libertá's room, reminiscing about the past and now she pointed inside towards his bed.

They all went inside and put the blonde down before Sumire pushed the three worried males away so she could see in what condition the young one was.

She was obviously shocked about what she saw but tried to keep herself calm so she could help the boy.

She listened to his heartbeats and turned to the other three in the room.

"His heartbeats are getting weaker...!" She took a step back in shock.  
"I...I have to use my powers...otherwise he will-!"  
"No, Mamma! The state Libertá is was caused by the use of his powers. If you were to use your powers on him now who knows how the Tarocco would react? It might even cause the relationship between Libertá and his card to change so bad that his powers might go berserk. And think about what kind of affects it would have on you..." Nova trailed off with a pained look painted on his face.  
"But I don't know what else I can do..." Sumire said and held a hand over her mouth.

Dante had walked behind her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry. We will take care of him." He said and turned to the raven-haired man in the room.  
"Luca, please, get Jolly in here as fast as you can. He might be the only one who can help us now." Luca nodded and was just about to turn around to get the older male from the basement where his laboratory was but he was stopped by a voice.

"That won't be necessary." Jolly said as he walked in the room with a black suitcase with him. He wasted no time putting the suitcase on the bedside table before opening it and pulling out a syringe. It had a long needle and a clear liquid was inside.  
Before anyone had time to ask he pulled the boy's arm out and put the needle in and pushed the liquid inside his body.

"Hey! What did you do?!" Dante asked angrily. There was no way to know what the man was thinking about. The liquid could have been anything! Was the slightly crazed man trying to do some sort of experiment on Libertá while he was so weak?  
"Don't worry Dante. It was just something to keep his heart beating." He told with the slightly sickening amused voice he held.

He stood up and was clearly not planning on helping the poor boy any more than he had.

"Will he be saved?" Luca asked. Jolly cocked his head a bit so he could look at Luca. He stared at him for an uncomfortably long while before he gave a smirk and shrugged.

"I wonder." He said calmly, making Luca's and Nova's blood boil. Dante knew better than that. Jolly was always trying to find a good reason to play mind-games with the people around him and this was one of those times.

"Did you break the hypnosis?" Jolly asked with a tone that told them that he wasn't actually interested but was just directing them to some kind of answer.

Nova looked at the man with seriousness. "The pirate captain was caught. He will be put to justice and we will definitely get him to call the hypnosis off."

Jolly looked at the boy for a while before he turned around and rested his back to the wall while lighting his cigarette.

"Jolly, don't smoke here." Dante warned the man but he paid the other no heed.

"That boy will not wake up until the hypnosis is broken. That is the only thing I can guarantee you." He said and inhaled the smoke before breathing it out, looking slightly more content than the moment before. Just as he was about to take another drag a hand gripped his wrist with power more than necessary. He saw Luca before him, giving him a dangerous look.

Jolly gave a smirk and walked over to the table in the room which had an ashtray. He put out his cigarette and walked back to his earlier position.

There were a couple of heavy steps before a figure appeared in the doorway.

"Mondo!" Sumire called for her husband and walked to him.

Mondo held a heavy look on his face as he watched Dante caring for the boy on the bed, covering him with a blanket and trying to clean the dirt off his face.

"Everyone. There is some bad news." The whole room went even more silent than it had just been. No one dared to even breathe.

"More bad news?" Nova asked with a sigh. Mondo nodded before he lifted his head up a bit higher.

"The pirate captain, Johnny, died." There was a moment of shock before Nova took a step towards Mondo. "And the hypnosis?!" He asked as in dread.  
Mondo looked down before he shook his head.

"The hypnosis wasn't broken."

–Nova POV-

A couple of days had passed.  
Libertá was looking much better than when he was brought in. His body had been washed and his wounds dressed and his clothes had been changed. He was still skin and pale, but it was much better than before.

I had found myself walking towards his room after finishing my work for the day. We had made sure that the town was save enough for the citizens to return home, which they could do tomorrow. The family would be aiding the people around the town to get their life back in order as well as rebuilding the things that were broken during the fighting.  
Thankfully there had been a heavy rain for the last two days which had washed away the dust and the blood from the streets. We sure didn't want the townsfolk suffer from our fight any more than they had already. The nearby towns had been generous enough to provide shelter, food and comfortable beds for everyone in our town during evacuation which I was very glad of. Things were finally going to calm down.

Felicitá had been sitting next to Libertá's bedside like usual when I walked in the room.

I walked to the other side of the bed where a chair had been put and sat on it. Felicitá hadn't acknowledged my presence so I leaned a bit closer to look at her better. She wore a gloomy look and I knew that I was not the one who usually cheered her up when she was feeling down. That had been Libertá's job.  
That probably meant that it was my job now.

"Hey Fel. How are you feeling today?" I asked her with a softer tone that I usually use. She didn't look at me and gave a nod. "I'm okay Nova."  
I felt an uncomfortable silence fall over us and I tried to think of something to talk about. I noticed her holding something in her hands as she seemed to be looking at the object.

"Fel, what´s that?" She gave me a quick glance before she lifted the object slightly higher so I could see it. It was a bracelet. And not just any bracelet. It was Libertá's bead bracelet. I wondered for a while if they had removed his necklace and bracelets when he was tended but I noticed that his necklace was still at place.

"Where did you get that?" I asked. I wondered if she had just taken the bracelet from his wrist but I doubted it. She had no reason to do it and she knew that those things were really important to Libertá.  
"Dante said someone had picked it up from the water today."  
"Is that so?" I said before I continued. "So... it was broken?" Felicitá looked up to me and shook her head.  
"No.. that's the weird thing. It was opened, not broken. I was thinking … maybe Libertá opened it underwater? Maybe... maybe the hypnosis actually-!" She explained with desperation lingering in her hopeful voice.

"-Fel!" I interrupted her, "He's... The hypnosis wasn't broken. You know that too. Libertá won't.." I trailed off, unable to say anything more.

"I know that..." She said and looked down. When she looked up again, she was crying. "But what's wrong with hoping? I don't want to give up!" Before I could answer her, she stormed out of the room.  
I sighed. I was really bad at trying to comfort anyone.

I looked at the unconscious figure.  
"Idiot... You should just wake up and take care of this mess for good.." I tried to say with anger but only a soft tone came out.

I wished that I could feel angry at him. I wished that I could blame someone for all of this. But there was no way I could be angry at him.

It occurred to me now that everything that happened that Libertá's powers were too powerful. A power to be granted everything he said? It was insane.  
Did that mean that once he would master his powers he would be able to surpass all the other Arcana powers? It was possible but the fact that someone like the mad pirate captain had realized this before we had made me so angry. At all of us.  
We treated him wrong. All of us. We never realized the extent of his powers and all the dangers that power carried. Sure, all of our powers were dangerous if not used right, but the power over all things.. How terrifying was it for Libertá to know that those powers might go berserk one day?

I sighed. It was no use thinking about it now.  
We would know better from now on. The true terror of the Arcana powers if they were to fall in the wrong hands.

I looked at Libertá and the fact that he might not be waking up weighted my heart heavily.  
How would things be from now on?

– Nova POV end-

"Your hair sure has grown long..." Sumire said as she brushed the blonde boy's hair from his face gently.

Mondo and Sumire had come to visit Libertá in the evening now that everyone had gone to sleep.

They felt somewhat responsible for all that had happened. After all, they were the head figures of the family, and Mondo, as the owner of The World was pretty much responsible of the Arcana powers even though he hadn't been there when Libertá's powers were given to him.  
"He is just a boy... He shouldn't have gone through all of this..." Mondo muttered. Sumire stayed quiet and didn't look at her husband.

"That's true." She then almost whispered.

There was a moment silence before Mondo spoke again.

"If I had kept him safer and helped him more with his powers maybe this all-"

"-Mondo," Sumire interrupted the man, "Don't blame yourself because of this."

"But Sumire, I knew what kind of task I had when I became the head of this family while having the 21st card. I should have helped the kids to understand their powers more. I feel like I have only been selfish and caused them pain because of my actions. Many of them only got their Arcana powers so that my life would not end so quickly. And what did I do? I decided to close my eyes from that fact and focus on the unimportant things. Now look where it brought us."  
Sumire stayed quiet during Mondo's confession. Then she let her head fall and she sighed.

"I know that feeling very well. I have felt like I have failed as 'Mamma'. Not only towards Nova and Felicitá but all the kids in the family." There was a silence but then Sumire looked at Mondo with seriousness.

"But still, now is not the time to dwell in the past or you will just be caught in your mistakes and won't see the things that really matter."

"Sumire.." Mondo said with slight surprise in his tone. Sumire got up from the chair next to Libertá's bed and walked to Mondo.

"What we need to do now is make sure Libertá will be safe." Mondo understood what she was saying but she was being too optimistic.  
"Sumire, you know that might not be possible."  
"Yes. I realize that." They shared a long gaze. "But we will try our best to be 'Mamma' and 'Papá' for him until the end." As she said that she took Mondo's hands into hers. Sumire's kind smile made Mondo feel much better.

"And we have to be the ones to support everyone else too. They are hurting so much due to all that has happened and now with the uncertainty of Libertá's future. What good will it do if we can't even protect those kids?"

Mondo thought about it for a while. Of course Libertá was their priority right now, but what if they would end up losing him? How would all the kids react? They all tried so hard to save him.  
Mondo then realized that he would have to support them especially now. Their family would not be broken.

And Libertá was an important part of the family. They would not lose him.

"Thank you Sumire. I know now what I must do." Mondo said and gave a small peck on Sumire's lips before he turned around and left the room in a hurry.

Sumire was left standing there for a while in surprise before she smiled gently and returned to the bedside.

"You have nothing to worry about Libertá. Your family is going to take care of you now." She placed her slender hand over his forehead. "You just dream good dreams for now." She brushed his hair once more, revealing the stigmata on his forehead, before she got up to leave the room.

What she didn't know was that Libertá's dreams were anything but good.


	8. Chapter 8

"I want you to look into Libertá's mind." That was the only greeting Jolly got as Mondo stepped into his laboratory. Jolly didn't look up from his book to look at him.

"Good evening to you too Mondo." Mondo, however, felt too busy for the formalities.

"Please. If his mind truly is still under the hypnosis I want you to help me break it." Jolly finally turned to look at him with suspicion in his eyes.

"Why? He is alive, isn't that enough?" Mondo turned slightly angry. It was obvious that Jolly was not in a good mood either.

"You know that it isn't. And who knows how long he will stay that way? We need to help him. He's just a kid."  
"And not yours for that matter." Jolly commented and they shared a dangerous look. Both of them were on edge.

They stared at each other for a while before Jolly gave in.

He sighed and said: "Fine." while getting up from his chair.

He walked by Mondo into the hallway before the older followed. "I still need him as a test subject anyways. His power has proven to be much more intriguing that I originally thought..."

"Jolly." Mondo warned him. Libertá would probably not want to use his powers for a very long time after all of this if he were to wake up. And definitely not by someone else.

The two walked silently all the way to Libertá's room. They stopped by the bed and looked at the unconscious figure.

"I will just take a look for now. If there is something you can help me we will try this again another day." Jolly said and took a seat next to Libertá's bed where Sumire had been sitting just moments before.

Mondo nodded and stayed close. He knew that he would not be able to see much from the outside but he wanted to at least watch over the two. There was no knowing what could happen when the Arcana powers were included.

As Jolly touched Libertá's forehead, the room went quiet.

–

As Jolly expected, it was very dark inside Libertá's mind. There was nothing to see at first but when he searched for a while longer he saw some light ahead.

He was happily surprised by what he saw when he reached the light.  
There was a green field and three kids running around, playing. Jolly recognized them as Nova, Felicitá and Libertá. However, he knew that the memory was not accurate. He didn't know if it had something to do with the hypnosis or was it more like a dream to Libertá but Jolly knew that the boy had not met Felicitá and Nova until he was much older. In the scene the three looked like they were around eight years old.

Just when he thought that the scene wouldn't change, something happened. A giant wave appeared high in the horizon and was gradually closing in to the peaceful place. Jolly braced himself as the giant wave crashed down but to his surprise nothing hit him.

He opened his eyes to find himself on a ship at the sea. He knew the ship very well. It was Dante's ship.

There was a storm raging and Jolly guessed that it was the time when the pirates would appear and kidnap Libertá.

He didn't have to wait for long to see how the pirates boarded their ship and started fighting.

There was a lot of noise. He could see the fight from Libertá's point of view and saw what a desperate situation it had been. He was surrounded by the pirates and there was no way that he could fight them off by himself. The fact was soon confirmed as someone knocked Libertá out and he was carried off to the enemy ship.

The memory ended there and everything became dark.

"_No! Don't do this! Stop!"_ Libertá's voice called from somewhere. Jolly was right to have a bad feeling. A sea of flames soon engulfed him and when they lessened he could see a town.

It was destroyed.

There were flames everywhere and the ground was covered in blood and dead bodies. And in the middle of it all was Libertá.

He looked completely emotionless, expect for the tears that ran down his cheeks.

Jolly could still hear what he was thinking since it was his memory.

"_I don't want to kill anymore... Please! I just want to go home!" _Jolly didn't often feel sympathy for others but seeing Libertá moving against his will as he was suffering inside was bringing up his emotions more than usual.

A kid, no more than ten suddenly appeared from behind a building and seemed to try and get away from Libertá. The blonde, however, noticed this and appeared in front of the poor child in a flash.

The child fell to the ground in fear and surprise and before he had time to even beg for his life, Libertá whispered one word and the poor little child disappeared in flames.

"_No! NO! STOOP!"_ Libertá shouted but it was no use.  
The scenery changed. A town after town appeared and they all were destroyed by the young blonde against his will.  
It was frightening to watch and unfortunately Jolly had to feel all the same feelings as Libertá did when all of it happened. He could feel how every single time the boy killed his mind broke a little more and the little control he had slipped away.

Just when Jolly thought that nothing could go worse, a new scene appeared.

There was a gang of people seemingly under the deck of the pirate ship. Laughter was heard as the people had gathered to see something in the corner.

Jolly feared to go closer but he knew that if he was to help Libertá wake up he would have to see what he had. He saw how one of the pirates had grabbed Libertá by his hair and was dangling him in the air like a rag doll. Libertá's eyes were open but they were completely emotionless. Jolly could still feel how Libertá's mind was still trying to weakly oppose what was happening. He was so afraid.

Jolly then had to witness how the sick men treated the kid like a punching bag- kicking and punching him- while they just kept laughing.

Just when Jolly thought the men couldn't be any sicker they did something so bad that Jolly instantly knew that Libertá's mind might be forever broken due to it.

They started to humiliate him.

They undressed him and touched his body while they boy could only cry inside his mind.

Jolly decided that he had seen enough and he ended the memories to see where Libertá himself was inside his mind.  
When Felicitá had lost her memories, vines had surrounded her body and kept her from getting her memories back. Jolly figured that Libertá would be in a similar place since his mind was under some kind of lock too.

"_I have killed so many..."_ Libertá's thought called Jolly in the right direction.

Jolly felt resistance when he got closer to the presence ahead.

Suddenly he noticed that everything around him was blue. He had somehow ended underwater.

He moved thought the space to see Libertá ahead. Long, green seaweed had wrapped around Libertá's body tightly so he couldn't escape.  
Jolly knew that he couldn't break him free for now. Libertá would have to stay inside his mind with his fears until more help arrived to break him free.  
Just when Jolly thought his job was finished he noticed something shining at Libertá's feet. He struggled against a strange force in order to reach the object. It was a rope that let out a purple shine. When Jolly touched the rope, flashes of memories occupied his mind.

The memories were of the pirate captain who had hypnotized Libertá. All the horrors the man had did could be seen.

So that rope symbolized the hypnosis then?

Jolly however frowned when he saw that the rope had been broken and it had fallen on the ocean floor. Didn't that mean that the hypnosis was broken?

Jolly looked up to the blonde kid.

"So... you just don't _want_ to wake up then?" It wasn't like Jolly couldn't understand. After all the boy had seen, how could he live with himself from now on? Maybe it was the best that the boy would stay this way.

Without knowing the answer, Jolly severed the connection with the boy and returned to the reality.

–

Mondo waited impatiently as Jolly stayed still in his position.

As five minutes had passed Mondo moved to the other side of Libertá's bed and sat down. He stared at Jolly to see if his expression would change- telling if something was wrong.

He didn't hate to wait for a long time as a frown appeared on Jolly's face. It didn't leave his face for another ten minutes. Then he slowly breathed out and opened his eyes.

Seriousness colored his face. It was clear he had seen something unpleasant but Mondo hadn't really expected any good news from the start.

"So?" Mondo asked. A long silence passed before Jolly leaned back in his seat and sighed. He looked at the roof and seemed to think about his answer.

"Good or the bad news?" Jolly asked, earning a surprised silence.

"The good news."

Jolly leaned forward and found straight eye-contact with the older.

"The hypnosis is broken. I'm not sure how it happened but it's definitely gone."

Mondo's eyes widened and his jaw dropped before he shot up from his seat.

"Jolly! Are you telling the truth?!" A small satisfied smile appeared on Jolly's face.

"Yes." A silence returned again and Jolly could feel it in the air how Mondo's excitement faded by the second.

"Then...what are the bad news?" Jolly looked away from Mondo at this.

"I won't lie. That boy's mind has gone through a lot." Jolly started at looked into Mondo's eyes as if preparing him. "So much that it would be for the best if you left him the way he is now."

"JOLLY! You aren't honestly suggesting that we just-" Mondo shouted angrily but was interrupted by Jolly.

"-He saw it all." This quieted Mondo. Jolly got out a cigarette, but remembered how angry the others had become so he put it back with an annoyed sigh. He needed a smoke badly. "That kid saw how his body was being used to kill and destroy. He killed countless of people day after day."

Mondo felt his feet grow weak and he slumped into the chair under him.

"He saw...everything?" He asked in disbelief.

"Yes. And unfortunately that is not all." Mondo shook his head and prepared himself.

"The abuse he got from the pirates was not something even I wish to speak aloud." Jolly said and waited for a while as Mondo's head fell in sadness and pain. "Mondo, that boy is already too broken."

Mondo, however, shook his head.

"No, that isn't true."

"Mondo-!" Jolly tried to reason but he knew that he wasn't the one making choices.

"-No! We will use Dante's powers. He will seal Libertá's memories from all that has happened and everyone will forget about it." Mondo only sounded like a desperate man that moment, like a father instead of the head of the family.

"Do you really think that will resolve this?" Jolly asked with anger in his tone.

"It has to."

"Mondo, you aren't thinking this straight. Everyone else remembers what happened. Do you expect that no one would blurt out the truth somewhere along the way? And what if those memories would return like the ones from his childhood? You would just be betraying him all over again."

Mondo opened his mouth to argue, but he snapped it close after he realized the facts himself.

"So this is how he will spend the rest of his life? Living his nightmares over and over again, never going forward and eventually dying as he grows weaker?" Mondo asked sadly. Jolly then more like blurted the next thing out.

"Not if you end it." Mondo looked at Jolly with rage in his eyes. Jolly only shrugged and looked away.

Mondo calmed himself and sighed.  
"I will speak to the others about this too. I can't make this decision myself."

–

"No way!" Nova argued before he had even heard the end of it. "It's Libertá's life. Just because he has gone through some horrible things doesn't mean that we should not help him! Just letting him die like this... That is much more horrible than what anyone has done to him these past weeks. We are family and family members support each other. That's what we will do for Libertá." He finished and left no room to argue.

"Papá, Nova is right." Felicitá said and earned determined nods from everyone in the room, expect for Debito who looked uncharacteristically guilty.

Mondo's look relaxed and he smiled. The kids were so much smarter than him. How had he not seen this answer? Libertá had a good family. Everyone would help him get back to his former life, no matter how difficult it would be for him.

"Yes. You are right. Let's get Libertá back then, okay?"

–

Nova, Felicitá and Luca stood behind Jolly as the older man sat at the same spot than he had just been sitting at less than an hour ago. He lifted his hand and rested it on Libertá's forehead.

Mondo stood at sidelines, frustrated that he could not travel inside Libertá's mind to help due to his unstable condition. He would have to let the kids handle this one.

"Let's go then." Jolly said and the three pressed their hands on Jolly's back.

–

Jolly was able to instantly guide them to the place where Libertá was.  
The sea surprised the four.

"We're...underwater?" Luca asked in surprise.

Jolly didn't answer as he just looked ahead.

They couldn't see anything but water for some time but soon the seaweed started to rise from the bottom- or were they sinking?- revealing the pale boy who was trapped.

"This sure looks familiar." Nova noted.  
"Huh?" Felicitá asked in surprise.

"You looked pretty much the same when we entered your mind that one time." Nova explained.

"Oh." She only said as they stared at the unconscious figure for some while.

A sound of a sword being unsheathed woke them from their thoughts.

Nova walked before them and prepared himself to attack.

"Let's get him free." He said and swung his sword. Just when it was about to hit its target, a strange power field appeared and stopped the attack, causing enough force to knock Nova a few steps backwards.

"What?!" He asked in shock.

Before anyone could comment anything, a light started shining on Libertá's forehead. It was his stigmata.

Then there was a voice.

"Why do you disturb my master?" The voice asked and after a flash of light, a familiar object appeared in the air right before Libertá. It was his Tarocco card- Il matto- The Fool.

The party was too surprised to speak. Fortunately the card was a talkative one.

"You have proved me once again that no one is capable of protecting my master. Not his parents nor you. Leave this place at once!"

The attitude of this card pissed off Nova.

"Huh?" He asked in annoyance, "Since when have you started to make the decisions? Like you say, Libertá is your master, not the other way around. You don't get to choose what is best for him!" The blue-haired shouted.

Luca smiled proudly. It was exactly what he had been thinking about.

"Libertá! Please, wake up! You are there aren't you?!" Felicitá shouted. The boy didn't respond in any way.

"Young ones. Why do you keep trying?" The card asked.

"Because Libertá is still alive! As long as he lives we will fight to keep him together with us, with his family!" Nova shouted and pointed his sword towards the card. "-And if you are coming in the way of our family, then I see no reason why I wouldn't cut you down."

An amused huff was heard from the card.

"Is that so...Then the rest is up to you." It was the last thing they heard from the card, Il matto. After a light flashed, the card was gone back inside Libertá where it belonged.

Nova wasted no time to charge towards the seaweeds that held his friend captive. This time no force stopped his attempts and the seaweed was cut off. But like in Felicitá's case the weeds grew back more quickly than Nova could cut.

"I'll help!" Luca shouted and ran to aid Nova.

Felicitá stood beside Jolly and watched the unconscious boy, trying to think what she should do to wake him.

"Don't falter." Jolly surprised Felicitá by his voice. "If you do, you can't wake that kid up." That was the only advice Jolly offered and it was enough.

"LIBERTÀ! WAKE UP!" Felicitá shouted at the top of his lungs and was soon joined by Luca and Nova.

"LIBERTÀ!" Luca shouted in slight anger, just like Nova did.  
"WAKE UP YOU IDIOT!"

And just like that, those blue eyes slowly opened and the party was forced out of the boy's mind.


	9. Chapter 9

Unfortunately, all stories do not end well.

Despite all the support Libertá got from his family, his condition kept deteriorating. Every time things were a bit better, Libertá's past came to haunt him in forms of flashbacks and nightmares.

It was never-ending. The boy started to distance himself from the others as he was afraid of hurting them with his sorrow. He became lonely and desperate and started to go down a bad path.

He found the means to make himself feel better for a short while, but nothing freed him from his memories.  
He was suffering and everyone could see it but they weren't sure how to help him.

Before anyone could really stop it, Libertá had become a completely different person. He became angry at anyone who tried to talk to him and pushed them all away. He locked himself in his room for days and refused to eat.

Something needed to be done.

Dante had tried to help Libertá as much as he could, but his work kept him at sea-where Libertá never wanted to return- so they couldn't see as much as he liked.

He had begged Mondo so many times to let him erase the boy's memories, but Mondo had always believed in the strength of their family.  
But at that point, they knew that even their family was powerless to do anything.

One evening, after a long discussion with the other family members, Dante went into Libertá's room, only to find the boy completely out of it, clearly having used something to drug himself to feel numb.

Dante felt so sorry for the poor boy that he cried as he placed his hand on Libertá's forehead.

The terrible memories passed through Dante's head and he just wanted to get rid of all of them.  
It was true that Libertá needed to know what had happened but that didn't mean he needed to remember those memories himself.

The time seemed to slow down as Dante felt his powers run through his body to Libertá. He felt happy that the boy could finally forget. He could only wonder why they hadn't done it earlier.

He tailored Libertá's memories carefully. He cut off all the things that had happened while Libertá was under the hypnosis. They would just tell him that he didn't remember anything due to the hypnosis.

Then he saw the last part of Libertá's memories before the hypnosis was broken. He realized that no one had actually found out how the hypnosis got broken and he was slightly interested to know the truth.

He watched from Libertá's point of view how the pirate captain was captured and how Debito hit him in the face- served him right- as he said his final command.

Dante could even hear the inner battle the boy had with himself which pained him even more.

"_No, stop it, I don't want to do this! Papá! PAPÀ!" _The boy shouted desperately inside his head. Dante felt how his heart squeezed uncomfortably at those word.

The boy stood by the railing, placing his hand on his forehead and muttered the cold words before he fell off the ship.

Dante then saw the boy in the water, conscious. He was looking at the surface and his thoughts had calmed.

_'Aah..It's finally over..' _ Dante only listened to the sad and tired monologue.

_'I guess I did it...I made the pain disappear...' _Dante wondered if it meant that Libertá himself had made the hypnosis disappear.

_'I really did many bad things, huh...? Maybe it's okay like this...just to sink...' _Dante felt very sad to hear those words and he wished he could shout the boy otherwise. He watched as the boy removed his other bracelet from his wrist and how it slowly floated to the surface.

_'I really hope you guys know...' _Dante watches as the boy frowns as the last bit of air escapes his lungs and he lets the water rush in.

"It must have hurt..." Dante mutters, pained by what he was seeing.

_'I never wanted to do any of those bad things. The only thing I wanted was...' _Dante can almost see how Libertá's life escapes him as the boy closes his eyes.

_'Libertá...Freedom...'_

The memory ends.

Dante wonders what he should do with the memory. Should he keep it or not?

He decides to see what Libertá's memories held next.

He sees Libertá waking up countless of times from his bed, screaming. He sees him wandering around the town to a part where Dante had never been himself and sees the boy getting to a fight. He wins, but then he starts to fight some more without really any good reason.

This goes on day after another. Dante remembers seeing some bruises on Libertá, but he never got an answer about them. Now he knew.

Libertá fights and gets involved with some bad people. He starts to smoke and ends up trying drugs too.

It was horrible to watch.

Dante sees one scene where Libertá is in his room, having had a panic attack and was reduced to crying heap on the ground before he pulled out a knife out of nowhere.

He sobbed as he pointed the object to his neck above the wound he received from the pirate. He cried and shivered and was clearly having an inner battle on whether or not he should end his life.  
In the end he threw the knife away and cried some more.

Dante knew that the memories would just get worse if he stayed to watch.

He knew what he wanted to do and he knew what Libertá needed.

He would lose his memories and it was like he had never woken up after the hypnosis.

It was wrong in a way, but it was for the best.

–

Days after Libertá's memories were removed, he regained consciousness.

He was confused but when he saw the people around himself, he smiled at them instantly. It was as if nothing bad had ever happened to him in the first place. Well, in his memories, it kind of hadn't.

All of us would remember though. The pained faces he wore and the empty gazes he would have even after the hypnosis had been broken.

He seemed to talk so _much _after he woke up. For him, it seemed like a normal thing to do. Of course we loved to hear him talk again. We loved the happy faces he wore. We loved how he complained about something and would laugh about it a moment later. Yes, his laugh had been gone so long that it almost seemed like the air vibrated when he did laugh the first time since he woke up.

There was a strange tension in the air always when we were in his room, going to see him as he felt too weak to get up. The secret of his past was weighting us down but we knew we had to live with it from now on. It would get easier in time, we knew. Like we had thought, Libertá did notice the strange air in the room but he thankfully thought it was just due the fact that he had been "asleep" for so long.

It felt like the time bended the next few days that Libertá rested in his room. He thought it was hilarious how, after sleeping for so long, he still felt weak and tired. We of course knew it was due to what he had been through. The drugs.. the memory altering.. it all took a toll on him. It seemed for us that the other things, such as work, went by quickly and meaninglessly. I knew that every day all the family members would use little of their time just to check on the happy Libertá every day. Even Jolly. It seemed like he thought that the whole incident had been somehow amusing and he told us he had gotten a lot of 'data' from it. In honesty, we knew that he was actually a bit shaken from what happened to Libertá. Or maybe we hoped so since it seemed that Jolly did not seem to have a lot of compassion for others.

But there was one person who did not go to see Libertá. He hadn't really been around otherwise either. Not at work and rarely in the mansion. He was...silent and very much unlike himself.  
I wasn't sure what exactly had happened in the ship, but since that day Debito had been so shaken that it was impossible to have a conversation with him.

I found out that it had been Debito who killed the pirate captain but I wasn't sure if it was due to that fact that he was so different. Unfortunately it was not a matter that I could deal with. It was only a few selected people who could talk to Debito now. Maybe his childhood friends or perhaps Mondo could have a talk with him? I didn't know but it did bother me.

Still, even though there was a lot of darkness lingering in the air, Libertá was back. His smile and his warmth. It was all back.  
I feared for the day that Libertá would remember again. It was known to happen someday. His childhood memories did. Why wouldn't this memory? That day, or days, Libertá would go through all the horrors again. And all over again we would have to seal his memories to see his smile again.

I wondered if this is what Dante felt like when he had gone through the difficult decision of sealing Libertá's memories the first time. To know that there was a chance that he would remember and the chance he would not be able to deal with his past.

As I sat alone in the garden, having found time to think about stuff, I sighed.

It was no use thinking about all the bad things. I would just do what I was able to do, just like everyone else. There were still some pieces to pick up, but with our family, I knew we could do it.

After all, our family was now whole and I wished it to stay that way for a long time.

**A/N:  
Thank you for reading this story. The updating was done fast so I apologize if there are any errors.  
**


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